The present invention relates to an azole derivative useful as an active ingredient for preventing and curing plant diseases, a process for the production of the azole derivative, and an agricultural/horticultural fungicide containing the azole derivative as an active ingredient thereof.
Numerous azole derivatives have been heretofore proposed for use as an active ingredient of agricultural/horticultural fungicides. The azole derivatives disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 215,674 (1985) have an azolylmethyl group and a phenyl group bonded to the same carbon atom as shown by the following formula: ##STR2## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 independently represent a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group or an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms and X represents a hydrogen atom or a halogen atom.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 149,667 (1987) discloses compounds represented by the following formula: ##STR3## wherein Xs independently represent a halogen atom, an alkyl group, a haloalkyl group, a phenyl group, a cyano group, or a nitro group, n represents an integer in the range of 0 to 5, and A represents a nitrogen atom or CH.
The present inventors, with a view to developing an agricultural/horticultural fungicide possessing low toxicity to mammals, warranting safe handling, and exhibiting a highly satisfactory effect in preventing and curing a wide spectrum of plant diseases, have synthesized many azole derivatives and tested the practicability thereof as a fungicide. The present inventors have consequently found that the azole derivatives of a configuration having an azolylmethyl group and a benzyl group, a phenyl group, or a phenethyl group respectively bonded to adjacent carbon atoms in a cyclopentane ring are useful as an active ingredient of agricultural/horticultural fungicides possessing the aforementioned characteristics. The present invention has been accomplished based on this finding.